calliehunterfandomcom-20200213-history
The Essence Of Me
Announcement On August 14th, 2015 via twitter, Callie Hunter announced that her ninth studio album would be released in September 2015 following signing to new label Sync Music and after her Rainbow and Memoirs albums were canceled by former label SMI. Prior to being signed Hunter released the "Fighter" EP independently. When revealing the album title and artwork, Hunter announced the album will be pushed back to October. It was eventually released October 10th, 2015. Composition The album, as previewed by its singles, is a contemporary R&B album with influence from Hip-Hop, Soul, Gospel, Dance-Pop, Alternative music. Three songs feature other guest vocalist. "It's Like That" features ATL, "Say Something" features Jon Wain, and "Call For You (Remix)" features M.C. MiKe. Songs like We Belong Together and Shake It Off have been described as throwback R&B ballads and song I Am Free previewed the pop/dance influence on the album. Artwork/Title On September 10th, 2015 Callie Hunter revealed the album's title and artwork via her twitter account. The artwork has two versions, the same picture but in color and in black and white. The cover was praised with one critic for Sims Billboard saying "cover looks like a picture right out of a Vouge magazine spread." The title of the album, The Essence Of Me, was explained by Hunter saying "After being told what kind of music to write and being used as a singer for hire rather than an artist, I never have been given the opportunity to show case who I am through my music...the title, The Essence of Me, is supposed to represent that this album is who I really am in all aspects of my personality. It's the music I've always wanted to make." Critical Analysis Following its release, The Essence Of Me received mixed reviews from critics. Critics highlighted the overall improvement in production though compared to Hunter's former album The Art of Letting Go from 2014. The lyrical content was praised though the inclusion of an explicit rap on the song "It's Like That" was criticized for being off putting to younger audiences, making the album too adult oriented. The overall cohesiveness of the album was praised by most but panned by some critics for being too similar to her previous work and that the album's sound was predictably "Callie Hunter" Awards and Nominations The Essence Of Me was nominated for Best R&B Album at the third annual 2015 December Awards, an award show based on donations which go towards families who need help during the holiday season. The single "We Belong Together" also was nominated for Best Song and Best Vocal Performance. Unfortunately the album lost to Ely Gold's debut album "At Last" while "We Belong Together" won both awards. In January 2016 The Essence Of Me was nominated for Best R&B/Hip-Hop Album and song "We Belong Together" was nominated for Song Of The Year and Record Of The Year. Singles/Promotion With only a couple of weeks to finish the album, Callie Hunter decided to rework previously unreleased songs to fit her new musical direction. Along with previously unreleased material she has recorded multiple new songs and intended to release the album's first single two weeks before the album's release in the same short hand promotion method she used for her major label debut album Daydreaming. * Callie Hunter released the song "Call For You" on August 14th, 2015 as the first release from her new record label Sync Music. * The album's second single "We Belong Together" was released September 10th, 2015 exclusively through SoundCloud to universal acclaim by fans and critics. Following a performance on Good Morning USA! the song boosted in popularity with critics praising the performance despite a sudden rainstorm halfway through the song. * "I Am Free" is set to be released September 24th, 2015 as the album's first promotional single. * "Shake It Off" was announced as the fourth single on October 15th, 2015 Track-list # I Am Free # We Belong Together # Shake It Off # It's Like That # Say Something # Fire In My Soul # In Your Heart # Call For You (Remix) # Essence # Call For You # Didn't Feel Anything # I Wish You Well Commercial/Chart Performance "The Essence Of Me" debuted on the Sims Billboard 200 chart at #2 with 113,000 in album equivalent sales. with 94,000 in pure album sales becoming the highest selling album of the week but missed out on the top spot with lack of streaming points the leading album had over it. The album charted else where in the world topping the Japanese Albums chart, the Oceania Albums chart, and the UK albums chart while placing at other positions other places. In January 2017, The Essence Of Me was Hunter's fourth best selling album with 950,000 in world wide sales.